Phil bowed her head.

“Can’t you help me decide?” begged Madge.

“No.”  Phil shook her head sadly.  “You’ll have to make up your mind for yourself.”

The two girls sat in silence after this.  They heard Mrs. Curtis come softly into the room and take a low chair in the far corner of the cabin, so as not to disturb Mollie if the girl should awake.  She could just see the bed, but not the face of the girl on the pillow.

By and by Mollie stirred.  “I am thirsty,” she said distinctly.  “Will some one please get me a glass of water?”

Phil rose quickly.  “Here it is, Mollie,” she answered, handing the girl the water, and trying to lift her with the other arm.  Madge stooped over to aid her.

“Thank you,” responded Mollie gently.  “But why do you call me Mollie?  My name isn’t Mollie.”

“We never liked to call you ’Moll’,” replied Madge soothingly.  “Mollie seemed to us to be a prettier name.”

The girl laughed lightly.  “No, I shouldn’t think you would.  My name is Madeleine, not Mollie.  And you are Phyllis and Madge.  I wonder why I never told you before that my name is Madeleine.”  Mollie’s eyes had lost their pathetic stare.  They were quiet and reasonable.

“Don’t try to talk, Mollie—­Madeleine, I mean,” murmured Phil.  “You must try to go to sleep again.”

She and Madge never changed their positions until the ill girl’s head grew heavy on their arms and she slept peacefully.

“O Phil!” Madge faltered, “you don’t think Mollie is going to——­”

“Sh-sh!” returned Phyllis warningly.  “Don’t show her you are surprised at anything she says.”

Madge clenched her hands to keep them from trembling, but she could feel her knees shaking under her.

The patient opened her eyes again.  “I fell off the yacht, didn’t I?” she inquired.  “It’s funny, but I couldn’t think what had happened to me for a long time.  I was trying to remember all night.  It was such a long night.  I kept seeing dreadful, rude men, who were cruel to me.  I must have been dreaming.  Where is my mother?  Why doesn’t she come to me?”

“Your mother!” exclaimed Madge.  A glance from Phil silenced her.

“Your mother can’t come to you now, she is——­” Phyllis faltered.

“Never mind,” the gentle girl spoke faintly.  “Mother may be resting.  She must have been dreadfully frightened when she learned I had tumbled overboard.  I think something fell and struck me on the head.”

“Don’t talk any more, please, dear,” entreated Phyllis.  “You can tell us all about what happened when you have rested a little longer.  You are very tired.”

The sick girl dozed again.  Phyllis and Madge slipped their aching arms out from under their patient’s pillow.

“Mollie’s memory has come back to her, hasn’t it?” Madge breathed in her chum’s ear.  “I wonder if it will go away again, or if she will remember more about herself when she is stronger?”